Little Salad Bar Salad Bowls

Aldi announced not long ago that it was going to offer more fresh foods and convenient, pre-packaged healthy foods, and it has not disappointed. In the produce section among all the lettuce and greens, the discount grocer sells several packaged salad bowl kits in various flavors that are good for taking along for lunch at work or school.

Little Salad Bar Salad Bowls

Little Salad Bar salad bowls sold for $2.89 each at the time of publication. Bowl sizes ranged from 4.5 oz. to 5.75 oz. They come in four varieties: Cranberry Walnut, Santa Fe Style, Chicken Caesar, and Turkey Cobb.

The salad bowls all include a plastic fork for on-the-go eating, although the fork is a bit on the flimsy side. The plastic bowls are recyclable.

I had my family sample the Cranberry Walnut, Sante Fe Style, and Chicken Caesar salads for lunch recently. The Turkey Cobb salad has a blue cheese dressing, which no one in my family likes, so we did not review that salad, but here is a look at all the other varieties.

Little Salad Bar Cranberry Walnut Salad

Little Salad Bar Cranberry Walnut Salad

This 4.5-oz. salad features spinach, kale, beet greens, pak choi, dried cranberries, feta cheese, flat bread strips, walnuts, and raspberry walnut-flavored vinaigrette. Based on weight, it’s the smallest of the salads we reviewed, but its leaves had so much volume that based on appearance, this looked like the largest of the salads.

Little Salad Bar Cranberry Walnut Salad Nutrition Info

Cranberry Walnut Salad nutrition info. (Click to enlarge.)

A one-bowl serving has 180 calories, 3 grams of saturated fat (15% of your recommended daily value), 410 mg of sodium (18% DV), 13 grams of total sugars, and 10 grams of added sugars. It also has 8 grams of protein.

This salad contains milk, wheat, and walnuts.

This was a solid salad. My family doesn’t like vinaigrette dressings as much as other dressings, so this didn’t disappear as quickly as the other salads, but it was still good with savory cheese, sweet dressing and cranberries, crunchy walnuts, and large leafy greens. My only criticism is that it seems a bit high on added sugar. The dressing was plenty sweet, and I think it would be fine with a little less added sugar.

Little Salad Bar Santa Fe Style Salad

Little Salad Bar Santa Fe Style Salad

This 5.2-oz. salad features romaine lettuce, chicken breast, cheddar cheese, Santa Fe style tortilla strips, and Greek yogurt jalapeno dressing. The bottom of the package stated the romaine lettuce was from Salinas Valley, California, and gives a harvest date.

Little Salad Bar Santa Fe Style Salad Nutrition Info

Santa Fe Style Salad nutrition info. (Click to enlarge.)

A one-bowl serving has 190 calories, 3.5 grams of saturated fat (18% DV), 490 mg of sodium (21% DV), 2 grams of total sugars, and 1 gram of added sugars. It also has 11 grams of protein.

This salad contains egg, milk, and soy.

One of my kids loved this salad bowl and declared it the best out of the three we tried. It was good. My husband and I thought it was a little on the salty side, but that was not a deal breaker for us. It seemed like most of the sodium was from the tortilla strips, so if you’re trying to limit sodium, go easy on adding those to this salad.

This salad is similar to a bagged southwest-style chopped salad Aldi sold for $2.69 at the time of publication; the main difference is that the salad bowl contains chicken while the bagged salad kit does not. Also, the chopped salad kit in a bag contains cabbage, carrots, and green onions, while this salad bowl does not have any of those ingredients. The bagged salad also tastes a lot less salty than the salad bowl.

Little Salad Bar Chicken Caesar Salad

Little Salad Bar Chicken Caesar Salad

This 5.75-oz. salad (the largest of the salads we reviewed) features chopped romaine with shredded Asiago cheese, grilled chicken breast, and Caesar dressing. The bottom of the package stated the romaine lettuce was from Salinas Valley, California, and gives a harvest date.

Little Salad Bar Chicken Caesar Salad Nutrition Info

Chicken Caesar Salad nutrition info. (Click to enlarge.)

A one-bowl serving has 270 calories, 5 grams of saturated fat (25% DV), 500 mg sodium (22% DV), 1 gram of total sugars, and 0 grams of added sugars. It also has 16 grams of protein.

This salad contains egg, anchovy, milk, and soy.

My husband and I liked this salad the best out of the three we tried. The dressing is rich and creamy, and, whatever is in it, we like it better than Aldi’s bottled Caesar salad dressing. It tasted like a Caesar salad we might get at a nice restaurant.

The Verdict:

Aldi’s Little Salad Bar salad bowls make for quick, healthy meals. They come in four varieties: Cranberry Walnut, Santa Fe Style, Chicken Caesar, and Turkey Cobb. The Turkey Cobb salad has a blue cheese dressing, which no one in my house likes, but my family tried the other three salad varieties and found them to be quite good. Which salad is your favorite depends on personal preference, but we thought the Chicken Caesar was especially noteworthy, with a restaurant-quality creamy Caesar dressing. You can’t go wrong with any of these salads, though.

About Rachael

Rachael is the Co-founder of Aldi Reviewer. When she isn't busy shopping at Aldi, she enjoys cooking, gardening, writing gothic romance, and collecting more houseplants than she probably should. You can learn more about her at rachaelsjohnston.com.

2 Comments

  1. Just bought little salad bar avocados ranch dressing at aldi s in athens al. My concern when I got home was the lid was not real tight. Does this dressing have a seal of some kind underneath the cap???? Do I need to return this?? Thankyou for your response.

  2. I’ve purchased Aldi’s Little Salad Bar Spring Mix twice this year-both times it began to spoil within a day or two. The “use by” date is two weeks ahead so that is not the issue…

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